Tag / Christmas

Whenever I read this part of nativity story (Matt. 1:18-24), I could not help but to sympathize with the plight of Joseph. Not that I claim Joseph suffered and sacrificed more than what Mary had given up just to realize the divine plan. Only that his credulity in some sense flays down the most endeared image of macho Filipino male. I am wondering up to now what moves Joseph to acquiesce to such abject role in that divine drama; whether for the love of Mary or for God, I am not really sure. Since the drama was already done and we are all aware how the story has ended, Joseph was redeemed into heroism or sainthood and the role he played is now recognized as an act of indomitable faith. Prior to that, of course, he was nothing but an idiot easy to fall to such dimwitted narrative of the divine visiting the earth. And there is nothing more enduring, more torturing, than the part of yourself mocking you, saying, “You’re shit, you’re so gullible to believe that Mary is carrying the savior in her womb!” I pity him for that!

It is interesting sometimes to imagine how social culture and its supposed “originator” correlate with each other. It needs some nerves to thread the tedious way comparing robust cultural practices from the original events that inspired them. In traditional paradigm wherein ontology must always precede practice, a foundation for what we are doing should always be available as its legitimizer. This implies that we could not have cultural practices just because people agreed to have it. We always inquire on the efficient cause, factual or fictional, that gave birth to social culture.